Impact of Emotional Intelligence Enhancement on Test Anxiety among EFL

Learners: an Experimental Study

[PP: 136-145]
Mohammad Reza Ebrahimi
Ph. D Candidate, Chabahar Maritime University
Iran
Hooshang Khoshsima
Department of Foreign Languages
Chabahar Maritime University
Iran

ABSTRACT
Emotional Intelligence (EI also EQ) is an affective factor capable of being enhanced, (Test) Anxiety is
another affective factor capable of being reduced. The present study is based on examination of possible
impact(s) of enhancing Emotional Intelligence on the reduction of Test Anxiety among Iranian university
students. For this purpose, 45 students in intervention and control conditions completed the "Emotional
Intelligence Questionnaire" and filled Sarason Test Anxiety Scale; afterwards, they received instructions on
EQ and strategies to enhance it. At the end of the course, the same Test Anxiety Questionnaire was
administered to the participants. By the use of descriptive statistics and independent samples t-test the data
were analyzed. The analysis of the data uncovered that there is a significant difference in the reduction of
students' Test Anxiety in experimental group. The results can shed light on how students emotional
intelligence enhancement influences Test Anxiety and also possibly in a broader scale, testing outcomes .
Keywords: Test Anxiety, Emotional Intelligence Enhancement, EFL Learners
ARTICLE The paper received on: 17/01/2016 Reviewed on: 13/03/2016 Accepted after revisions on: 27/03/2016
INFO
Suggested citation:
Ebrahimi, M. R. & Khoshsim, H. (2016). Impact of Emotional Intelligence Enhancement on Test Anxiety among EFL
Learners: an Experimental Study. International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies. 4(1), 136-145.
Retrieved from http://www.eltsjournal.org

1. Introduction
Success in exams could not rationally
be attributed to a single factor only; there
must be various factors at work, some of
which already unknown to and unexplored
by educators. Test Anxiety as one of these
influential factors, is probably widespread
in about 10 to 30 percent of learners

(Hogez, 1988). About 15% to 20% of

university students and 10 million students
at schools experience it in USA (Chapel et
al, 2005). Thus, test anxiety is a significant
educational problem affecting many of
students
in
school
(Salend,
2011).Therefore, it is worth exploration.
Anxious students may "freeze" or "blank"

Impact of Emotional Intelligence Enhancement on Test Ebrahimi, Mohammad Reza & Khoshsim, Hooshang

during a test but the degree of anxiety in

different fields of study differs. A student of
literature would not experience as much
anxiety as a student pilot or a medical
student, whose work is a matter of life and
death of himself and/or several dozens of
passengers! For example, Green et al.
(2015) argued that about 22% of the US
medical students had moderateto-high
Test Anxiety scores; Tekta et al. (2013)
also claimed a prevalence rate of 29% of
Test Anxiety among medical students in
Germany.
Researchers of the current study
explored test anxiety because learning
foreign/second language also creates
anxiety. In foreign/second language
learning there is always the question of
whether I am on the right track or not
(whether I understood the text thoroughly)?
And more importantly during the exam
sessions: whether I understood the
question right? To add insult to injury,
whether I am able to make myself
understood in second language and
readably answer the question to which I
know the correct answer in my native
tongue? These questions arise since
learning is the second task after overcoming
the problem of translating the text into the
first language, an extra burden, probably
unique to foreign and second language
learners only (or those who are taught by a
medium of instruction except for their
mother tongue).
Numerous meta-analyses have made it
obvious that self-reported test anxiety
correlates negatively with test performance
(Ackerman & Heggestad, 1997; Seipp,
1991). Some other researchers (Morris and
Liebert, 1969; Wine, 1971; Sarason, 1972;
Covington, 1984) also detected that low
performance on exams is primarily related
to worrisome (Spielberger and Vagg, 1995).
Test-anxious individuals have impaired

performance according to cognitive models

of anxiety and performance (Eysenck,
1992), because task-irrelevant thoughts like
worries about the performance culminate in
poorer performance.
Recent definitions of Test Anxietywhich is an affective factor-introduce it as
having two key components: Emotionality
and Worry (Cassady & Johnson, 2001;
Spielberger & Vagg, 1995). Therefore, the
researchers decided to investigate anxiety in
relation to emotions and particularly
emotional intelligence, as in principle,
human beings have the ability to
intentionally modify their emotional
experience. That is, they can self-regulate
their emotional states (Tice & Bratslavsky,
2000). Emotional Intelligence has turned to
one of the most significant and recurrently
mentioned concepts in recent years. The
notion of Emotional Intelligence has
generated a wide-ranging attention in lay
and also scientific field. Delving into its
influence on test anxiety may present us
with reducing anxiety which probably
culminates in better test performance, a
precious fruit to education.
2. Review of Literature
2.1. Test Anxiety
For Spielberger (1995), anxiety is
emotional state composed of feeling,
tension, apprehension, and its influences on
the nervous system. Test anxiety can be
explained as physiological, cognitive, and
emotional responses due to stress
encountered during the exams (Spielberger,
1980; Hall Brown et al., 2005). Anxiety is
also defined as a complex state that
includes cognitive, emotional, behavioral,
and bodily reactions (Sarason, 1984, p.
931). Sarason (1975) explained Test
Anxiety as a sort of self preoccupation that
is shown in underestimation and reduction
of self-potentials that ends usually in
negative cognition, lack of centralization,

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unwelcome physiological response and

impaired academic performance. It is then
predictable to observe a negative
relationship between test scores and anxiety
scores (cited in Lashkaripour et al., 2007).
The problem of anxiety is to a
significant extent, a problem of intrusive
thoughts that interfere with task focused
thinking (Sarason, 1984, p. 929).
Spielberger (1983, as cited in MacIntyre,
1995) defined the feeling of anxiety as an
instant, momentary emotional experience
with abrupt cognitive influences that is
asserted by feelings of tension and worry,
and nervousness as a reaction to a particular
state (here: learning contexts).
The feeling of anxiety encourages
some to operate superior by promoting them
to strive more, whereas disallows others
actions by disturbing mental processes
necessary for performing well. Aronen et al
(2004) proved high levels of anxiety
influence on the decrease of working
memory, distraction, and reasoning in
students. Greater anxiety would be
associated
with
poorer
academic
achievement (Luigi et al., 2007) and a
negative correlation between test anxiety
and students' performances (Onyeizugbo,
2010; Abulghasemi, 2009).
Liebert and Morris (1967) accentuate
composing factors of test anxiety as
cognitive factors ("lack of confidence "or
"worry") and factors related to the
activation of the autonomic nervous system
("emotionality"). The first one is negative
cognitions about ones own performance
in an exam, and the second dimension is
related
to
physiological
responses
concerning the evaluative situation.
2.2. Emotional Intelligence
In general, EQ is defined as ability in
individuals to comprehend their own
emotions, motivate the individuals around
them, and of course successfully manage

their relations (Petrides and Furnham,

2000). It is a theoretical construct which
characterizes ability at perceiving,
assimilating, understanding, and managing
emotions to better guide ones mind and
behaviour. (Salovey and Mayer, 1990)
Goleman (1998) argues that it is being able
to identify, assess, and control the emotions
of oneself, of others, and of groups. Mayer
and Salovey (1997) define it as a set of
skills including four categories: ability to
appraise and express emotions; to
emotionally support thinking; to understand
and analyze emotions; and to regulate
emotions. Emotional intelligence is defined
also as the ability to understand and
manage emotions (Barchard & Hakstian,
2004). Other definitions categorize EQ as a
kind of social intelligence, specific
emotional and social competence or
cognitive abilities used to process affective
information (Boyatzis and Sala, 2004).
Nowadays, it is viewed as a collection of
attitudes related to the processing of
emotional information (Bar-On & Parker,
2012).
Research proved that social and
emotional skills are associated with success
in many areas of life, such as academic
performance, student learning, and
effective teaching (Sutten & Weatley,
2003). Research in general indicates that
EQ has a significant influence on learning a
second or foreign language (e.g., Petrides &
Furnham, 2000; Pishghadam, 2008).
Bar-On model -utilized in this studyexpresses that emotional intelligence
abilities may differ over time, change
throughout life of people, and be improved
by various training and development
programs (Garner & Stough, 2002).
Therefore, the researchers of the current
study decided to give a course for
enhancing EQ and observe the probable
changes it can bring. EQ enhancement has

Cite this article as: Ebrahimi, M. R. & Khoshsim, H. (2016). Impact of Emotional Intelligence Enhancement
on Test Anxiety among EFL Learners: an Experimental Study. International Journal of English Language &
Translation Studies. 4(1), 136-145. Retrieved from http://www.eltsjournal.org
Page | 138

Impact of Emotional Intelligence Enhancement on Test Ebrahimi, Mohammad Reza & Khoshsim, Hooshang

been done using various approaches; some

utilized a mixture of didactic and skillsbased training (Schutte & Malouff, 2002;
Slaski & Carwright, 2003; Kotsou et al.,
2011; Ruiz-Aranda et al., 2012) whereas
others have utilized practices including
self-reflection (Wing et al., 2006).
Enhancement procedures have also varied
regarding duration of training, from some
hours to two years.
2.3. Does Emotional Intelligence Influence
Test Anxiety?
Although there has been a lot of
research done on these two affective
factors, no study (based on the survey by the
authors of this study) has investigated these
two to check whether they influence each
other or not? Whether manipulating one of
them causes changes in the other or not.
Some studies have been done regarding the
relationship between the two. The results of
the study done by Jahangirpour (2012) on
the relationship between the university
students EQ and their anxiety in Gilan
showed that there is a negative
correlation between their EQ and anxiety.
The current study checks this probable
impact as there were some signs of a
relation. To fulfill the aim of the study, the
following
research
question
was
investigated:
Does enhancing EQ reduce Test Anxiety in
a significant manner?
3. METHOD
3.1. Participants
The participants were 45 students of
Economics, studying in two different
provinces of Iran. The ages in treatment
group ranged from 18 to 22 years old and 9
of the participants were male students.
Control group composed of 24 students, 17
of which were female; their ages ranged
from 18 to 28.
3.2. Instruments

The "Bar-On EI" test and "Sarason Test

Anxiety Questionnaire" were given to the
participants. "Sarason Test Anxiety
Questionnaire" which is the most famous
test anxiety survey according to Troyn
(1980), is a questionnaire that investigates
students' test anxiety-with true or false
choices- was applied. Items were designed
in a way that features of test anxiety like
reaction, tension, intrusive thoughts and
physical symptom could be studied. In the
current investigation the reliability
Cronbach's alpha was 0.81; Cronbach's
alpha of the questionnaire reported by
Sarason was 0.91.
A pencil and paper self-report scale is
the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory
(EQ-i). In Bar-On model, emotional
intelligence
comprises
five
main
dimensions including personal dimension,
inter-personal dimension, adaptability,
coping with stress and general mood, and 15
sub dimensions secondary to those
dimensions (Brown, Bryant & Reilly,
2006).
Five
dimensions
include:
Intrapersonal EQ including emotional selfawareness, assertiveness, self-regard, selfactualization, and independence subfactors. The next one is interpersonal EQ,
comprising
empathy,
interpersonal
relationship, and social responsibility
components. The third is adaptability EQ,
encompassing 3 sub-factors problem
solving, reality testing, and flexibility.
Then, there is stress management EQ,
which is divided into stress tolerance and
impulse control components. The last is
general mood EQ, which is composed of
happiness and optimism (Bar-On, 1997, pp.
4345). Participant respond on a 5-point
Likert type scale continuum from Very
seldom or not true of me to Very often or
true of me. Research proves that the scales
show internal consistency, validity and testretest reliability (e.g. Dawda &Hart, 2000).

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Regarding cross-cultural differences and

for having more secure comprehension of
the questionnaire, the translated Persian
version was used.
Dehshiri (2003) asserted that Persian
version of the test of 133-item self-report
Emotional Intelligence scale for measuring
EQ which was developed by Bar-On is
reliable and also valid. The Persian version
was administered in the current study; 0.82
was the total reliability of the questionnaire,
estimated via Cronbach's alpha. "Sarason
Test Anxiety questionnaire" was given both
before and after instructions on EQ. In due
course a demographic form composed of 3
questions on gender, age and participants
major was given to each student.
3.3. Data Collection
The research was done in Iran in a
period of 4 months (a semester) in 2014.
Students received instruction about the
research procedure and "Interchange
Placement Test", was used for choosing a
homogeneous
population
regarding
proficiency; afterwards, 45 participants
were selected from students with
intermediate level of proficiency. Then, the
"Sarason Test Anxiety questionnaire" and
"Bar-On EQ tests" were distributed among
them. Verbal consent was affirmed by
students after informing them of the value
of the study. Then, some of the students
were randomly selected to be interviewed
for checking the reliability of their
responses to the questionnaires. In the next
phase of the study, enhancing EQ started by
familiarizing participants with their
emotions, the role that these emotions can
play in success and the method of
controlling them. Ultimately, a post test of
anxiety-through Sarason Questionnaire
again by the same participants- was
administered to check how much enhancing
EQ can influence anxiety. Except for
teaching EQ, approximately the same

process was concomitantly in progress for

the control group. Control group was
selected almost parallel to the experimental
one regarding demographic information
and also proficiency.
4. Data Analysis & Discussion
Descriptive statistics was used in the
study. In order to know the influence of EQ
enhancement on Test Anxiety independent
samples t-test was run.
4.1 Results
For analyzing the relevant data, the
Statistical Package for Social Sciences
(SPSS), version 22 was utilized.
Significance level was 0.05. Table 1 shows
descriptive statistics obtained from the
control and experimental groups in test
anxiety in pre-test.
Table 1: Descriptive Statistics for Control and
Experimental Groups Performance on Test Anxiety
(Pre-test)

Table 2 shows the results of

independent sample t-test for the
performance of the experimental and
control groups on the pre-test of test
anxiety. At the start, there was no
significant difference between groups in the
scores of test anxiety (t= -.532, p> .05) (see
Table 2.).
Table 2. Independent Samples Test

Descriptive statistics obtained from the

control and experimental groups for EQ
questionnaire at the beginning of the
experiment is shown in Table 3.

Cite this article as: Ebrahimi, M. R. & Khoshsim, H. (2016). Impact of Emotional Intelligence Enhancement
on Test Anxiety among EFL Learners: an Experimental Study. International Journal of English Language &
Translation Studies. 4(1), 136-145. Retrieved from http://www.eltsjournal.org
Page | 140

Impact of Emotional Intelligence Enhancement on Test Ebrahimi, Mohammad Reza & Khoshsim, Hooshang

Table 3 Descriptive Statistics of the Control and

Experimental Groups Scores in EQ Test

pre-test and post-test) were calculated for

the two groups and the related statistical
analyses were conducted to them. Table 7
shows the descriptive statistics for the gain
scores in the test anxiety.

The independent sample t-test for the

performance of the experimental and
control groups on the emotional intelligence
in pre-test is shown in table 4. No
significant difference was observed
between these groups on the EQ scores (t=
.487, p> .05).

Table 7 Descriptive statistics of the control and

experimental groups gain scores on the text anxiety

Table 4. Independent Samples Test

Table 7 shows the independent

sample t-test for the gain scores of the
experimental and control groups. As it
could be seen, a significant difference exists
between the two groups in the gain scores
of test anxiety after instruction on EQ
(t=4.86, p< .05).
Table 8. Independent Samples Test for the difference
between pre and post test scores

Table 5 shows descriptive statistics

obtained from the control and experimental
groups in test anxiety in post-test.
Table 5: Descriptive statistics of the control and
experimental groups in post test

For the performance of the

experimental and control groups on the test
anxiety in post-test, the independent sample
t-test is shown in table 6. Between these
groups on test anxiety scores at post-test a
significant difference was observed (t=
3.39, p< .05).
Table 6. Independent Samples Test for Test Anxiety
post test

To check the influence of the treatment

(EQ training) test anxiety more precisely,
the gain scores (the difference of scores at

4.2 Discussion
Plausible impact of EQ enhancement
on test anxiety was the concern of the
present research. In this part, a summary of
outcomes is presented to address the
research question. The research question
was about the impact of EQ development on
the reduction of test anxiety. The results
obtained from the study yielded a
significant difference in the students' test
anxiety after enhancing EQ. The results of
this study confirm the co-relational research
conducted by Ebrahimi and Khoshsima
(2014), considering the existence of a
relationship between EQ and test anxiety.
The results confirmed the findings of
Ebrahimi and Khoshsima (2015), regarding
the impacts of EQ enhancement on
answering cloze tests. After a period of
enhancing EQ, they found that the
participants in the intervention conditions

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answered cloze tests better than individuals

in the control group in a significant way.
Also, regarding the impact of enhancing EQ
and the changes in education, the results are
in line with Schutte and Malouff (2002).
The results of the current study confirmed
the parallel study of Slaski and Carwright
(2003). They examined the impact of EQ in
the stress process as a moderator. A sample
of 60 managers was trained in EQ. Related
to EQ, stress, health and management
performance pre-test and post-tests were
administered. It was revealed that training
caused increased EQ and improved well
being and health, but the same results were
not observed for the matched control group.
Groves, McEnrue, and Shen (2008)
empirically tested whether it is likely to
deliberately develop EQ. They used a
sample of more than 100 business students
in which participants in treatment group
took part in a 11week EQ enhancement
course. The study revealed that EQ can be
knowingly increased; significant EQ gains
was observed in treatment group and also
gains across each EQ dimension, while the
control group did not show any significant
change. Fletcher, et al. (2009) argued that
a workshop of 7 months on EQ ended in
higher scoring on EQ, significantly.
The results of the current study verified
the results of Kirk, Schutte and Hine (2011).
They made available emotional selfefficacy training to employees randomly
assigned to the treatment group. Employees
scored higher than employees in the control
condition on EQ, emotional self-efficacy
and workplace civility, after the training.
The results are also in line with Saadi et al.
(2012) who found that female adolescents
who received EQ training showed more EQ
and less aggression after the enhancement
than female adolescents in a comparison
group. The results also support the findings
of a mental-health study, in which subjects

who participated in 24 EQ training classes

over two years, gained higher EQ and
experienced less depression and social
stress in comparison with participants in a
control group (Ruiz-Aranda et al., 2012).
Furthermore the study confirms the study
done by Kotsou et al. (2011) which showed
an increases in self-reported beside
observer-reported typical or trait EQ among
members of treatment group as opposed to
control group. A parallel avenue of research
encountered with the same results (for e. g.:
Taylor (2004), Akinsola and Olowojaiye
(2008), Reuben, Sapienza, and Zingales
(2009)).
Based on the findings of the present
study, which confirm the findings of other
analogous researches, it could be argued
that enhancing EQ influences test anxiety in
a positive way (i.e. test anxiety reduces).
These results are rationally expected
because emotions play a crucial role in
exams as Ebrahimi and Khoshsima argued
that "one who can handle his emotions can
show his capabilities and achievements in
tests (and test-like situations) as they really
are not influenced by stress or other
inhibiting factors" (2014, p. 154). Finally,
it is reasonable to argue that EQ is a
significant predictor of test anxiety
particularly for those tests which are more
critical and consequently more stressful.
5. Conclusion
As an informed conjecture, researchers
of the existing investigation presumed that
EQ as an affective factor might have an
impact on test anxiety. The outcome of the
undertaken data analysis showed a
significant impact of EQ enhancement on
test anxiety and the conjecture proved
correct. Practical implications of this
paper include- speaking, consciousness and
knowledge of EQ shall not be neglected in
educational contexts which seem to have
the ability to resolve some affective

Cite this article as: Ebrahimi, M. R. & Khoshsim, H. (2016). Impact of Emotional Intelligence Enhancement
on Test Anxiety among EFL Learners: an Experimental Study. International Journal of English Language &
Translation Studies. 4(1), 136-145. Retrieved from http://www.eltsjournal.org
Page | 142

Impact of Emotional Intelligence Enhancement on Test Ebrahimi, Mohammad Reza & Khoshsim, Hooshang

educational problems that sequentially can

change the future of learners and also in a
broader scale the destiny of a society at
large. At least a workshop for students on
EQ -which showed to be constructive in the
current investigation- should be included in
curriculums.
It is worth mentioning that although
the findings confirmed the idea of the
usefulness of EQ enhancement in dealing
with test anxiety, the generalizability of the
results might be challenged due to the
limitation that the participants majored in
Economics, a major which does not usually
create much stress; medical students or
other similar learners may be more
appropriate to be studied. Thus, replication
is necessary. This attempt leaves the door
open for further investigations on EQ
enhancement in different fields of study and
for doing different tasks. Despite the
promise of probable solutions of including
EQ enhancement in the syllabus designs, it
cannot take any substantial effect without
a preconditioned re-examination and a
systematic reformation of the existing
educational policies and curriculums.
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Cite this article as: Ebrahimi, M. R. & Khoshsim, H. (2016). Impact of Emotional Intelligence Enhancement
on Test Anxiety among EFL Learners: an Experimental Study. International Journal of English Language &
Translation Studies. 4(1), 136-145. Retrieved from http://www.eltsjournal.org
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International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies

Volume: 04

Issue: 01

ISSN:2308-5460

January- March, 2016

Page | 145